//------------------------------// // Coming Clean // Story: Why was I so lucky? // by Artyom the Brony //------------------------------// I woke up quite suddenly, yet naturally, as there was no outside force I could see. I jerked my head up to see I was still in the same room, Fluttershy was still quite literally all over me, and it was still night. I slowly removed myself from Fluttershy as to not wake her. After some time I broke free from her grasp and I sat up on the edge of the bed. I didn’t know why I was doing this, I just was. When normal people wake up in the middle of the night, they take some sleeping pills and hit the hay… bed… again. But not me, I was sitting on the edge pondering the wonderful universe of G.I. Joe. After thinking about things in general for a while I got that awkward feeling of someone staring at you. I turned around to see a dark blue pony. Based off the amount of females there were compared to males, I figured this new pony was female as well. I noticed that she had both wings and a horn, as well as a tiara and a fancy necklace like thing. OH MY GOD SLIPPERS! I always liked slippers. I took her to be royalty considering the unusual combination of appendages and regalia. What made me more confused, was the fact that she was here, in Fluttershy’s house, at night. “So uhh, this is strange,” I said, unsure of what to do in the current situation. “Not really,” she said “If you were not aware of this beforehand, this is a dream,” “Oh, then can I wake up in real life now?” I didn’t like dreams, I don’t know why, I just didn’t. “That is not for us to decide, we only came here to observe, and see if Twilight Sparkle spoke the truth,” She said Just like that I woke up… again. It was slower this time. My eyelids twitched a little bit, still heavy from the first good nights sleep I’ve had in months. I spent some time adjusting my eyes to the morning sun before looking around. Fluttershy was now on top on me, still in the same wing and hooves embrace. “Well this is a pickle,” I thought to myself I thought of ways to get out of this without waking her up, but that seemed rather impossible. I somehow had to remove her death grip from my person, then get up and out of her bed without waking her up. Easier said than done. I tried to simply lift her off my chest, needless to say that didn’t work. Instead it stirred her. “Oh hell, I’ve got a cuddly pony waking up already on top of me…” “Hello there,” Fluttershy said, she was obviously still sleepy, what with me waking her up ten seconds ago, but her eyes were half closed and she had a warm smile on her face. “Good morning, can I get up?” I asked “Why would you want to do that?” She asked “It’s nice and warm in bed, and…” “Well it’s just that Twilight wanted me to tell her about my species,” I lied, hoping that this would get me out of here. “What time did she say for you to go?” Fluttershy looked determined to keep me here at all costs. “As soon as I woke up,” I wasn’t the greatest liar, but the odds were in my favor that she didn’t know how to read human expressions. “Are you sure? Twilight didn’t tell me anything about this,” Oh fuck she was catching on. I began to remove her from my person as we talked, which was hard considering she had six apendages to hold on to me with, and I had two to push away. “Well why would she? It’s not like it’s something of your concern anyways. I’m sure I can go there and be back within the hour,” I said cheerily “Well then, if it’s so carefully planned out, you won’t mind of I tag along will you?” She had a look of, If you’re lying I will trap you in a dungeon for all eternity. “Of course not, why would I, it’s planned, by Twilight, whom lives somewhere, in Ponyville…” I trailed off realizing that I didn’t know where exactly Twilight lived “Fine,” She huffed “We can go to Twilights and you can take her stupid test thingy…” She got off me and I didn’t waste a second getting up. I sat there for a second, just happy not to have a hundred pound pony on my chest now. I felt her breath on the back of my neck a second later though. “If any of Twilights question get a bit to… personal… then I can get her the answers,” Her voice was breathy and seductive A dew thoughts popped into my mind at that. First off, AW HELL NAW! The possibility of, well I won’t see my species ever again so why not. And that of shock. Even if I did go with the latter option, could I really bring myself to go all the way with a pony? NOPE! No way in hell, unless she… NO STAY FOCUSED MAN! THIS IS A SERIOUS NOPE! But what if… I SAID NO! I got up off the bed and walked at the fastest pace possible down the stairs to my gear. I reached it and was quite happy with what I saw. Nothing had been touched, and I could have sworn that my boots looked shinier. I quickly donned my fatigues, Kevlar, gas mask and helmet. I slipped my socks on and then my boots. I don’t know why I kept putting my gas mask on, if the atmosphere was toxic I would have died long ago. Maybe because it made me feel secure, like there was a barrier between my face and whatever might harm me. That same fog went away, mostly, just as Fluttershy came downstairs. I knelt down to tie my boot laces. “Hello there,” Fluttershy said, walking over to me “Do you want anything for breakfast?” As she said this she brushed my face with her tail. “MMPH. No, no I’m fine thanks,” I said, still uncomfortable Her expression changed as she walked by an open window. “Oh no I’m so sorry I’m so sorry I don’t know what I was thinking please forgive me it won’t ever happen again I’m so very sorry…” Fluttershy ran over and hugged me, all the while crying and saying that she was sorry. “I…Umm… Why, are you sorry?” I asked, confused by this new attitude “I was getting to close and I saw you were uncomfortable but I just wanted to be with you and I now I don’t know why and I also said that Twilight’s questions were stupid even though they are probably really important…” She continued “I forgive you, ok. I have a sinking feeling that you weren’t in your right mind. I also lied. Twilight didn’t ask me to answer any questions, even if she did, I don’t know where she lives…” I trailed off “Oh, um, well ok then. I’m sure that Twilight would like to see you anyways,” Fluttershy said, not sure of what to make of my statement. Just then Fluttershy’s front door opened and in walked an alabaster mare, at least she looked like one, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash. “Hello Fluttershy, gasp, what are you wearing Fluttershy? And what is that you’re hugging?” The alabaster mare asked with a very proper feminine voice. “Oh, hello Rarity. My friend here gave me this coat so that I stayed warm on the walk last night. Isn’t he just so nice?” Fluttershy asked her friends while giving me adoring eyes. “I uh, yes. I gave her that coat, and, uh, can I go?” I asked, again feeling like my personal bubble had been popped. “I told you! I told you he was just going to be a jerk and totally not cool,” Rainbow Dash said “No, I mean, can you stop hugging me Fluttershy. Last night was a little close for comfort,” “Oh, um, yes. Sorry,” Fluttershy said as she broke the hug “What do you mean, ‘a little close for comfort’, what did Fluttershy do?” Twilight asked “Oh nothing, not at all, nothing, no way no how, Fluttershy? Nah…” I trailed off just repeating similar things “Ok then,” Twilight said “Would you mind if I asked you some questions?” “Not at all,” I replied, happy to change the subject Jee, I guess I wasn't actually lying about the questions. Already I could get a serious bookworm vibe from her. “Oh yay!” Twilight seemed overjoyed at the idea of learning about me “*Ahem* Question one, what is the name of your species?” “Human,” I replied, already I could see a trend of how simple the questions were going to be. “Question two, how did you get here?” boy, that escalated quickly. “Got blown through a malfunctioning portal by an RPG,” I said nonchalantly, not gonna lie, it was pretty badass thing to say. “Question two point five, what is an RPG?” “Rocket Propelled Grenade, Russian design. Think of fireworks, but you shoot it at someone on purpose, and when it explodes it sends tiny bits of metal designed to cut, maim, or kill.” I could see from their reaction to the description that they were not used to this sort of thing “You mean, that it’s supposed to... to hurt ponies?” Rainbow Dash asked “That would be if they missed. If the shooter hit his target, then the target would be destroyed and or killed,” I said, now realizing how foreign the concept of killing was to them “That sounds terrible! Who in all of Equestria would ever want to do anything like that?” yelled Rarity “Nopony Rarity. But he’s from a different place, it could be normal there. Is that normal on, wherever you’re from?” Twilight asked with a bit of fear showing. “I’m from Earth. In most places killing is terrible, against the law, and is almost never committed,” I stopped for a second as they let out a sigh of relief “But,” I said, and their expressions went back to horror “I am a soldier. I do that sort of thing for a living. He shoots at me, I shoot at him, and at the end of the day, only one of us goes home alive.” I figured now was a the best time to tell them about my rather violent past. They all had mixed looks on their faces after what I had just told them. I tried to put myself in their… hoof, slipper, boots! And imagined how I would react if I was told something like that. I came up with basically the same response. “So, let me get this straight.” Rainbow Dash said “You are somepony who goes someplace, shoots at another pony to…to…to kill it!” Rainbow Dash spat out the last words “In an overly simplified way, yes,” I said, shifting a little bit I looked at them with a worried expression even if my mask hid all but eye. I was afraid that they might shun me now, killing wasn’t something I was overly proud of, but I still had done it before, three times to be precise. What if they hate me now? What if I had to leave and never come back? I would be all alone in this strange new world with no other soldiers who understood the decisions I had made. After what seemed like a millennium, I finally decided that it would be best if I just showed myself out. I got up and went to the door, opened it and took one last look back. I shed a single tear from my exposed eye before I closed the door. I walked to a creek and followed it away from Ponyville.